Bolivia prepares to launch a Chinese-funded steel mill

Bolivia will start production at a Chinese-funded steel plant in February this year. Reuters reports this with reference to country officials.

The plant’s output will be enough to cover half of the country’s needs.

The $546 million Mutun plant was largely financed by the Export-Import Bank of China. In its first year of operation, the plant will be managed by China’s Sinosteel Engineering and Technology.

After its official opening on 24 February, the plant in eastern Bolivia near the border with Brazil is expected to initially produce 200,000 tonnes of steel per year, including rebar and wire mesh, worth $260 million.

The Mutun plant will process 66 kt of raw materials per month from the Cerro Mutun deposit, which is estimated to contain one of the world’s largest iron ore reserves at 40 billion tonnes.

Bolivia usually imports steel from Peru and Brazil.

‘We are entering an era of industrialisation,’ said Mining Minister Alejandro Santos Laura.

The project was first proposed about 50 years ago and has been postponed many times since then, including due to a series of disputes between the government and the company that originally signed the contract for the construction of the plant, India’s Jindal Steel & Power Ltd.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Chinese steelmaker Hebei Xinfeng Steel plans to build a $1.65bn industrial complex in Egypt. The project aims to boost the country’s industrial potential and strengthen economic ties between Egypt and China.